The World Sucks Because
by Katta
Summary: The fate of the universe can depend on very small things... like wishes. Crossover with The Stand.


THE WORLD SUCKS BECAUSE  
  
The woman called Joanna was reaching the level of drunkenness where she no longer cared if she cried into her drink or spilled embarrassing details about her life to absolute strangers.  
  
"I did everything for Charlie," she complained, rubbing her eyes. Her makeup was starting to look like she was dressing up as a Panda for Halloween. "He'd call me up and I'd stop whatever I was doing I was always ready for him. Ready to fuck him. Any time, any place, any way..."  
  
She started telling all the ways she had fucked Charlie, and the other woman grimaced into her glass of tequila. She hated this part of the job. Like she really needed to know the details of this poor pathetic creature's so-called love life. Screwed was screwed, that was all that mattered.  
  
"Don't you wish...?" she started, but Joanna was too busy talking to listen.  
  
"And then, after all this" She slammed her hand into the bar, though the inebriated gesture was rather unimpressive since her hand was slack and ill-aimed. "After all this, he tells me he wants to go back to his wife. His god-damned wife. Says he has a family to take care of. A kid." She shook her head morosely. "A god-damned, motherfucking kid."  
  
Probably not meant literally, the other woman decided. She chewed on her maraschino, thinking, and then tried again: "But don't you wish...?"  
  
"You want to know what I wish?" Joanna said, her voice raised to a level that made people in the bar turn in their seats to give her reproachful glances. About bloody time! The other woman put her drink down, waiting. "It's that base. He was always working on that base. Every time he had to go back there, she'd be waiting for him, and where would I be? If he could just get off that base... Even now, he'd get back to me if he could just get off that base. I wish he'd just get the hell out of there and never have to go back."  
  
"Oh, for fuck's..." the other woman started, sounding very irritated, but halfway through the sentence her voice died and she stared off into space.  
  
Her reaction was so odd that even Joanna noticed and asked, "You okay there?"  
  
The woman pulled herself together and gave Joanna a delighted smile that made her eyes shine like a little kid's in a candy store. Then her face changed into something that made Joanna back away and nearly fall off her chair, for the first time wondering if perhaps she'd had just a little too much to drink.  
  
"Done!"  
  
The smell of demon was so strong that Flagg stopped mid-stride and almost caused Lloyd to bump into him. Demons? Here? He had thought that he'd made his point clear after the first few burnings. This was his city, and he'd be damned if he let anyone else try and move in.  
  
Of course, he already was damned.  
  
He looked around the square, trying to figure out which one it was. Not the guy cleaning the windows. Not the couple feeding their kid an icecream – and not the kid either. But... Yes. That young woman having her lunch on a patch of grass in the sun.  
  
He turned to Lloyd and asked, "Who's she?"  
  
Lloyd looked over at the woman, frowning. "Oh, that one. Um... Annie? No, it was something weirder than that. Anya!"  
  
"Anya," Flagg repeated slowly, mentally adding '-nka'. It all clicked together. This was the girl who had caused it all – no wonder she figured it was safe to come. He owed her one.  
  
She was too far away to have heard him say her name, but she still looked up, meeting his gaze. Her expression was serious and slightly bored, none of those nervous smiles he had gotten used to. This could get interesting.  
  
He started walking up to her, gesturing for Lloyd to stay behind. Lloyd was loyal, but every loyalty had its limits, and this conversation might turn out a little too revealing. As he approached the millenium-old hottie, Flagg put on the most charming of his smiles, and his hips started to move to an inaudible tune.  
  
"Anyanka, isn't it?" he asked, meeting that bold gaze.  
  
"That's right," she said. Her voice, like his, was completely human, even though the smell of demon was now so strong that it seemed the people around ought to notice it.  
  
"Nice to meet you, baby," he said, still grinning. "I don't usually allow demons in this city. But I've been impressed with your work. Perhaps we could reach an agreement of some sort."  
  
She took a bite of her sandwich, watching him as she chewed. At long last, she swallowed. "First of all," she said, disdain evident in her voice, "Men are disgusting creatures, and men who say 'baby' I eviscerate for a living, so cut out the flirting."  
  
His grin instantly disappeared. A demon in his town was one thing, particularly when it was such a demon of such talent and creativity. But he couldn't bear with insolence from anyone. Who the blazing hell did she think she was?  
  
"Second," she continued, clearly unaware of his change of mood, "any 'agreement' must be settled with D'Hoffryn. My boss. You may have heard of him."  
  
"I have," he admitted. Outside of Vegas, D'Hoffryn was still a factor to be reckoned with, enough that you didn't want to piss off one of his girls without reason. Especially not the one who'd casually pushed fate to work to his favour.  
  
Anyanka smiled for the first time. She'd probably come to the same conclusion that he had. "And third, I'm the reason you're even here, so don't mess with me. How many women in this city of yours do you think are being screwed over right this instant? And how hard do you really think it would be for me to... persuade... them into wishing you had never existed?"  
  
He felt his eyes burning as he replied, "So you believe you have that kind of power?"  
  
"I don't." She took another bite. "But the wish does. So before you try to lord it over demons as well as humans, perhaps you'd do well to remember that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."  
  
That did it. He couldn't have this woman think she had seniority over him just because one of her clients had made a dumb wish. Vengeance demons weren't easy to kill, but he moved fast, reaching through skin and bone to grab the heart inside her chest.  
  
She gasped, and Flagg held on tighter to the heart as he felt the other demon try to teleport. Ripping herself away, she managed only a few feet before collapsing on the lawn, blood flowing out of the hole in her chest.  
  
Flagg was still holding the heart as he walked up to Anyanka's writhing body. She gave him a last desperate glance, the white of her eyes showing all around her irises, and then her body combusted.  
  
He dropped the heart on the lawn and picked up a handkerchief to wipe his bloody hand. "Now, that was stupid."  
  
"Who was that?" Lloyd asked as Flagg came back to him. His voice was low and frightened, but he showed no sign of bailing. Good old Lloyd.  
  
"No one important," Flagg said. But he was worried. The stupid bitch had been right – the wish was powerful, and there were plenty of vengeance demons left in the world.  
  
He would have to do something about that D'Hoffryn guy. But first, he'd go pick up his bride.


End file.
